Journey to the Sunnyside

Welcome to Journey to the Sunnyside, the podcast where we have thoughtful conversations to explore the science of habits, uncover the secrets to mindful living, and of course, your own mindful drinking journey. This podcast is brought to you by Sunnyside, the number one alcohol moderation platform. And if you could benefit from drinking a bit less, head on over to sunnyside.co to get a free fifteen day trial. I'm your host, Mike Hardinbrook, published author, neuroscience enthusiast, and habit change expert. Hey, guys.

Welcome back to Journey to the Sunny Side. I'm Mike Hardinbrook, and today we're gonna talk about breaking the all or nothing holiday mindset on this ten minute Monday. And, of course, the holidays are in full swing. You got parties, family gatherings, and tons of other temptations. So if you're part of the Sunnyside community already, you're probably thinking about how you're gonna stay mindful with your drinking during all of these celebrations.

And I just wanna say I commend you for actually thinking about this now. That in itself is a win that you should celebrate because most people are putting this off until after the New Year or right before it. So give yourself a pat on the back for that. But let's be honest. Right now, this is a difficult time.

There's a lot of pressure everywhere. There's pressure not to overindulge. There's pressure to indulge because, quote, unquote, it's the holidays. And then there's also pressure to stick to your goals perfectly. And this can leave us with feelings of being stressed out in itself.

On top of the holiday stress, it can also lead us to feel guilty or defeated in our actions. And you already know this. We're listening to this and thinking about mindful drinking. You don't have to go full all in overindulging, and you don't have to go completely dry. We know that there is a middle ground to enjoy the holidays while staying in control of our choices, and that's where we're gonna walk through this balance, how to think about this, how to make it happen, and how to set you up for an easier January leading into 2025.

So I wanna touch on before we get into some tactics and mindsets is just how we think about these extremes. And first of all, we had the all in. You know, you might be indulging without limits, and you're just gonna live in the moment, and you're just gonna change everything at the last minute at January 1. And until then, you're not gonna think about it. And this creates a yo yo effect because, obviously, in your habits, you're gonna go from one extreme to the other, and that restriction can be really challenging.

But what a lot of people don't realize is that if you're drinking like this on a repetitive basis, this really depletes key nutrients, things like b one, thiamine, B12, folate, magnesium. And not only will that sort of basically put you in the dumps and put you in a low mood, but it actually lends itself to making it difficult to resist cravings in the future. Not only are your habits, but your physical setup in this stage are really difficult to change. And then on the other side of it, we have the nothing where you go completely dry. And if that's your goal, you should absolutely stick with it because you get to choose what it is.

But for many people, especially during the holidays, this can feel very isolating during a time where we wanna be connected and we wanna celebrate. So restricting yourself too much can backfire, and studies show that deprivation increases cravings that could make it harder to stick to your long term goals. So we have these two extremes that can get in the way of our long term goals, which is really what we're talking about. So now I want to talk about maybe you can look at December as a time to adjust because progress isn't just about making everything perfect. It's okay to adapt to things like holidays and special events, and so maybe you might wanna consider adding in a couple extra drinking days in December or whatever feels right.

Because as long as it's intentional, studies show that planning ahead reduces impulsive decisions. So if we, instead of reacting in the moment, decide how we want to approach our December, in our events, in our holidays, we can then not really impede our progress, but instead we're adapting to life, basically. So this keeps you in control of your choices. And when you're in control of your choices, you're going to avoid things like guilt and stress that come along with these unplanned decisions. And so now let's talk about how to find that middle ground.

And I've already mentioned this. We want to set a plan. So we want to decide ahead of time what you'll drink and how much. You should already be doing this, writing it down or using the Sunnyside app, and be thinking about this ahead of time so that you're not making these decisions either at a low point in your day based off of stress or impulse. Next, how do we get to that middle ground?

So the first action point is we want to have a plan. We want to decide ahead of time what you're going to drink, how much you're going to drink, and you either want to use the Sunnyside app or some sort of journal or spreadsheet or whatever you are drawn to use to actually plan this out. The next one we want to do is balance our indulgences. So if we're going to go to a party, for example, and we know we're going to eat more, we're probably going to drink more, if that's in our plan, Then are there other ways that you can balance it out? Maybe you can eat lighter meals.

Maybe you can focus on your hydration. Maybe you can get an extra workout in. Or, for example, if you almost always take Saturday as one of your drinking days, Could you remove one of those drinking days to sort of balance out maybe a Tuesday party or something like that? And then the last one is pause before you act. So we can, maybe, let's say you even gave yourself an extra drink.

So instead of two drinks, you said, I'm gonna have three. You're feeling really good. You're having a conversation. You're heading to the bar, and you're really kind of caught up in the moment. Before you act on an impulse, stop and pause just for ten seconds before you actually take the action.

And so if you're thinking about grabbing that extra drink, wait ten seconds, ask yourself, do I really want this? Does this really stick to my plan? And a lot of times, just that ten seconds will allow you to make better choices. And so let's wrap up today in just saying that the holidays, they don't have to derail your progress. You can still enjoy yourself while staying intentional and in control.

So this week, just pick one small step that I talked about. The first one and necessary one is to have a plan. And remember, every choice adds up and helps you feel better, not just during the holidays, but leading into January in 2025. And if you're not already using Sunnyside, it's a great tool right now, especially to help you plan and track your drinks. And it's free to get started.

So if you wanna use it for half of December, there's no strings attached. You can go over to sunnyside.co and get a free fifteen day trial. And it's a perfect way to keep you mindful during this holiday season. And thanks for listening. And until next time, cheers to your mindful drinking journey.